@MarioRedfield: No Hellsing isn't particularly sad. Alucard is a Anti-hero same as Lucy, but all of Alucards confirmed kills are on "bad guys" so he's more heroish. Its not at all like ElfenLied in that respect though Alucards just dark in the way thats suppose to be "cool" not dark as in moral grey

@MarioRedfield: Hellsing isn't an "emotional" experience. It's a rule of cool series. I mean It's REALLY cool in a lot of ways, but no there isn't any emotion that you'd going to be feeling.

My views are skewed a bit by the manga and my personal fandom, but I wouldn't classify Lucy as a sadist. Shes a bitter angry girl whose cold to others and has incredible power. Ever seen a bitter highschool girl? now imagine if they could end life and never get caught....I sense a high mortality rate. Joke aside Lucy is a angry bitter girl with psychopathy due to abuse and abandonment issue (In the manga she got soooo many mommy issues). The thing is she kills and hurts people we like thats what makes her a "monster". Alucard impales people for fun with a smile he enjoys killing and totally loves every moment of the blood sport. He is the impaler after all, but the thing is he kills only people the series trains you to dislike so you don't care that he enjoys people being impaled on spikes because they are bad people so you'll turn the other cheek for him.

I don't know of this at all helps, but it's my feelings on it. I love both series, but your write to say they take their blood a bit over the top, If its the emotional nature of elfenlied that turned you away you have nothing to fear in hellsing ultimate, if it was the blood itself, then no go.

@Acura_Max: Agreed diversity is key, making the ending consistent clever and with enough closure (or not depending on the goal of the ending) makes for the best possible endings. In example making say the manga girlfriends have a sad ending would feel inconsistent and forced considering the tone and narrative, Yet in say, Fate Zero, because it was the nature of the narrative the ending felt perfectly natural since it matched the tone and style of the entire plot (even if it was just the worst possible things happening to the best possible people.)

Really depends on the themes of the entire narrative. Over all I find bitter sweet endings often are the most meaningful and fictionally grounded while still pleasant enough to make us emotionally content.

Despite my tastes for dark stuff and generally distaste for cheesy romantic stuff added with my general feelings that most yuri is pointless wish fulfillment with no sense of plot or worth while structure (I can say that now that F is on hiatus) I have a deep seated and unexplainable love for the manga girlfriends of which I can not in any way defend.